Everything's Easier When You're Home
by Major Htom
Summary: Alexander Hamilton is back home from the time he spent in Nevis. But if everyone thinks life is going to be easier, then they're going to be shocked. James is homeless, Sally and Hercules are wedding planning. Theodosia is 'sick'. And Peggy is still very much pregnant Here comes March. Continuation to We Keep Living Anyway.
1. Prologue

Alex was eating his breakfast when John walked in and turned the radio on.

" _... orea, saying in a press conference that they successfully detonated a nuclear weapon. This has Japan and South Korea.._."

"Ugh. Wonderful news, isn't it?" Alex asked.

"Brilliant." John agreed. "So what are your plans for today?" He asked, opening a pack of Pop Tarts.

"I don't know." Alex shrugged. "Maybe I'll just go and visit the Schuylers."

"Want me to drive you?" John asked. He put the Pop Tarts in the toaster.

"If you don't mind." Alex said. "Actually, I think I'll just get a taxi."

"Well I could sketch something so, if you want to pay money you don't have for a taxi, then go ahead." John said.

"Why would you wanna sketch something?" Alex asked as the news on North Korea droned on.

"Because I have an assignment due soon and I haven't started it."

"How soon?"

"About a week."

"Yikes." Alex pulled a face. "Yeah, you can take me if you want."

"I know. And then there's your wheelchair, Alex. Who would get your wheelchair in and out of the car? Your boyfriend, that's who."

"Okay, John, I get it. I already said you could drive me."

"Cool. When do we leave?" John asked.

"Have you had breakfast?" Alex asked.

"I'm just waiting for my Pop Tarts." John said.

"The toaster's broken." Alex said.

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is. Your Pop Tarts are gonna burn."

"They aren't." John stuck his tongue out childishly as he pressed a button on the side of the toaster. The Pop Tarts popped up and he grabbed them.

Alex moved away from the small table in the kitchenette and shook his head. "You're a man child, John."

"A gay, nerdy, political, animal loving man child." John bit into a Pop Tart with a smile, which quickly vanished when his mouth was burned by the hot jam inside. "Oh! Ow! Holy crap!" He spat it out in the sink.

"You're a lot of things, John. Sensible isn't one of them." Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Fuck it." John said. "Let's just go."

"Sure." Alex said. "I'll call and let Philip Schuyler know we're on the way."

* * *

Having Alex back from... Wherever it was he'd been, wasn't all that great for John. Alex was tired day and night and just wanted to sleep off the jet lag. But it was great to have Alex finally home again. February seemed like it had been the longest month for John, maybe because he witnessed his friends fighting, he had to confront his homophobic father and his brother died. Yeah. February was the worst. March was better already.

Even though Alex being home and sleeping meant that John had to clean out Alex's catheter for him, he was happy to do it. He loved Alex a lot. So much that he didn't mind doing the icky medical things for him.

But today, whether Alex was tired or not, John was taking him to the Schuyler mansion to pick up Alex's new wheelchair, which had arrived when Alex had been away. John had seen it. He didn't realize that wheelchairs could be made that small. It would definitely fit him perfectly.

So when John woke up, he was surprised to see Alex, with his feet up, eating lazily from a box of cereal on the couch as he watched something on the TV. The cereal box was resting on Alex's chest and there was milk already in it. Eew.

"'Sup, John?"

"Ugh, Alex. Seriously?"

"Got a problem, John?"

"We're going to the Schuyler's today."

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"You forgot because you've been acting like a sloth the past few days-sleeping for twenty three hours of the day and awake for one."

"Oh relax, John. It's not _that_ bad."

"It is. Now sit up." John walked over to Alex and snatched the cereal box and the spoon from him.

Alex grunted and grabbed his unresponsive legs and dragged himself up so he was sitting on the couch as John wanted. "What's got you all hot and bothered today?"

John took a seat where Alex's legs were resting-before he'd moved them. "Alex, you've been back for days. And all you've done is sleep."

"Not true."

"Very true." John said. "Who do you think's been the one who's done all the toilet stuff for you?"

"... The toilet fairy?"

"No, it's been me, Alex." John said. "Me and Ned-who's in an early lecture and can't be here right now." He added. "Do you know how disgusting it is shoving a suppository up your ass? Or giving you an enema? Or changing your catheter? I'm now very familiar with the consistency of your stool. Do you think I want to be?"

"Hey, I didn't ask you to give me enemas while I slept." Alex said defensively.

"But if I didn't, you'd get Autonomic Dysreflexia and have to be admitted back to the intensive care unit." John pointed out.

"Whatever."

"And have you been looking after yourself while you've been away?" John asked. "You have brain tumors-"

" _Benign_ brain tumors."

"They're still brain tumors, Alex." John said. "I'm the one who's been playing white noise so your tinnitus doesn't bother you. I'm the one who's gonna have to look out for your vertigo returning. I'm the one who's gonna have to make sure you don't grow tumors on the rest of your body and end up like the Elephant Man because that's what Neurofibromatosis will do to you."

"Yeah, but Elephant Man was an extreme case."

"And what about your Yellow Fever? Your recurrent malarial infections? Your bad kidneys."

On the mention of Yellow Fever, Alex paled. John wasn't supposed to know about any of that. "Um..."

"Alex. I want you to look after yourself." John said. "Look, I get that you're self destructive. Hell, I'm self destructive too."

"You're a lot more self destructive than I am." Alex said.

"Yes. Well, Alex, please just try to stay alive."

"Okay."

"And don't go mad when I tell you that Abigail Adams has-"

"What's she done?"

"Assigned Charles Lee to assist you."

"Well fuck me." Alex blinked, unsure of what else to say. Charles Lee. Yuck. Pretending to like that coward-well, that's going to be hard.

* * *

"Good morning, Lafayette, you have a lecture soon so you'd best get ready for that." Martha said as soon as Lafayette had ran into the kitchen.

"I know, Martha." They said.

"Do you know how Peggy is?" Martha asked.

"I don't know, Martha."

"You've hardly said a word since Angelica's party." George observed. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Lafayette said.

"Somethings got to be wrong, sweetie, you're not usually this quiet." Martha put her hand on their back.

Lafayette shook her off. "I'm fine."

"Talk to us, Lafayette, that's how problems get solved." George urged.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Be that way, Lafayette." Martha said. "Just know that we're your parents and we love you. We would do anything and everything for you."

"Peggy's pregnant." Lafayette said.

"Ah. I... I see." Martha said. "George, we're going to be grandparents."

"Yeah." Lafayette nodded. "Grandparents."

"Well, you're a bit young to be having children, did you not use a condom?" George asked carefully, not wanting to offend.

"It was one time." Lafayette said flatly. "Thanksgiving."

"Well, the one time is all it takes." George said.

"But we're here to support you." Martha said. "All three of you."

"Four." Lafayette corrected. "Peggy's having twins."

"Well that-" George stopped abruptly, not sure of what to say.

Martha opened and closed her mouth as if she were trying to say something. "Four." She said, eventually. "Um. Four." She sucked on her teeth. "Okay. Four."

"Yes. Four. That's... Practically a family." George said.

Lafayette took something from their pocket and handed it to Martha. A photo of Peggy's ultrasound scan with the two little baby blobs.

"That-that definitely _is_ twins."

"Where did twins even come from? They're not in Lafayette's family." George wondered.

"Maybe they come from Peggy's biological family." Martha reasoned.

"Yeah, maybe." George said. "Um, congratulations, Laf."

"At least she doesn't want to dump me." Lafayette said.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! New chapter in the saga! Whoop!**

 **Notes!**

 **Poor John and Alex. It's only going to go downhill from there as the apocalypse is coming. Yeah.**

 **How do you think paralysed people go to the toilet? It's not pretty and pretty much what John describes.**

 **Autonomic Dysreflexia is a very nasty and extremely dangerous thing that people with spinal cord injuries get. Uncontrolled hypotension. High blood pressure. The heart then can't regulate itself properly and if the cause can't be found, a hospital visit is needed. It is potentially life threatening. It can be caused by anything from needing to pee, constipation, sexual activity, an ingrown toenail, even tight clothes. So no skinny jeans for Alex.**

 **Elephant Man did not suffer from Neurofibromatosis, that's a common misconception. He actually suffered from Proteus Syndrome.**

 **Alexander Hamilton really did suffer from recurrent malarial infections. And recurrent rheumatic fever. Whereas James Madison was told his whole life that health was bad (they don't actually think it was that bad in modern days), Alexander Hamilton's health really was bad (and we're finding more about the extent he hid it).**

 **Alexander Hamilton was really self destructive. John Laurens, even more so.**

 **Charles Lee wasn't really a coward. He just made some... Really bad decisions. Terrible decisions. Disobeying your commander in chief is generally a terrible decision. He also lost two fingers in a duel in Poland, so by the time Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens knew him, he had eight fingers. Yep. That's one more thing Lin don't teach you.**


	2. Stay Beyond the Sunrise

"I really appreciate you letting me sleep in your dorm last night, Angelica." James said.

"I don't understand, James, why _you_ left _Jefferson_." Angelica said. "Why didn't you just kick _him_ out?"

"I don't know." James shrugged. "I felt it would be easier this way."

"You know you can't sleep here tonight, right?" Eliza added.

"Why not?" James asked.

"James..." Angelica paused and twirled her hair in her finger as she thought of what to say. "We risked getting evicted out of our dorm ourselves. We can't risk doing it for a third night in a row."

"I see." James said.

"It's nothing you've done." Eliza added. "In fact, Angelica and I respect you for standing up against Jefferson like that." She said. "Maybe he'll see what he's missing and want to hold onto it by being nicer to you."

"Eliza, don't suggest that!" Angelica hissed.

"What?" Eliza shrugged. "It's fine."

"You don't suggest in domestic violence that the victims to back to the abuser."

"It wasn't domestic violence." James said. "Not really. I mean... He pushed me once. I just don't feel I trust him any more. His temper's got a lot more unpredictable recently and-"

"So who will you stay with tonight?" Angelica asked.

"I don't know." James admitted.

"Try Alex, John and Ned's." Angelica suggested. "They might let you sleep on the floor."

"I... I will." James said.

* * *

Theo made her way over to Aaron's dorm. When she knocked on the door, Aaron opened it straight away.

"Theo." He said with a smile.

"Aaron, we need to talk." Theo pushed past him.

"Oh." Aaron closed the door. "If you're breaking up with me, I'm man enough to take it, but you gotta say it direct-"

"I'm not breaking up." Theo said. She sighed. "Look, you should know, about a week ago, I took a pregnancy test and it came up negative."

"Okay..." Aaron raised an eyebrow. "So you're not pregnant."

"But I was puking pretty much all the time." Theo said. "I still am. Yesterday, I went to the doctor and she had me take a pregnancy test."

"If you're not pregnant, why-"

"I am."

"Sick?" Aaron asked hopefully.

"Pregnant." Theo said with a small grunt of disdain.

"We're having a baby?" Aaron asked. "You and I?"

"Because of my MS, I was sent for an emergency ultrasound." Theo said. "I'm sixteen weeks pregnant. Roughly."

"Oh my god." Aaron clapped a hand to his mouth. "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"Not yet." Theo shook her head.

"This is... Scary. But... It's good. I-I think. I'm not sure."

"I'm not sure either." Theo pursed her lips. "Here's a... A photo of the scan." She took a piece of paper from her hoodie pocket. "Our baby. And Aaron, I told my mom."

"What'd your mom say?" Aaron asked. He was transfixed on the little blob in the photo.

"She said she'd support me if I kept studying." Theo said.

"Fair enough." Aaron said. "I gotta call Sally-tell her the news. I'm gonna be a dad to either Aaron Burr III or Theodosia Jr."

"We're not naming the kid after us." Theo rolled her eyes.

"Wait-how will Peggy and Laf handle this?"

"What do you mean?"

"They're pregnant too."

"Shit." Theo cursed. "Shit, they are."

"We'll have our baby first anyway." Aaron waved a hand dismissively. "Shouldn't we start looking for apartments? Getting baby things? Thinking of names? There's only six more months until the baby comes."

"It's gonna be a September baby, just like Peggy and Lafayette."

"And theirs are going to be November babies, just like you."

"I just wonder how this happened." Theo said. "We've been using condoms and spermicide and I've been taking the pill-"

"Maybe God just really wanted this to happen." Aaron said. "After all, God works in mysterious ways."

"Aaron, you're an atheist." Theo said.

"True, but isn't that what Christians say?" Aaron shrugged.

"But _I'm_ not a Christian either." Theo protested. "And I'm so scared. I don't know. I..."

Aaron took Theo's hand. "Theo, we'll work it out."

"The baby's yours, Aaron. I know it is."

"I never questioned the parentage." Aaron said blankly. "Wait... Theo have you been?"

"Cheating on you? No!" Theo pulled her hand away from Aaron. "How _dare_ you!"

"If you'd let me finish, I was going to say 'raped'! Have you been raped?"

Theo sighed. "No, Aaron."

"How many weeks pregnant did you say you were?" Aaron asked.

"Sixteen."

Aaron's eyes widened. "Oh my god."

"What?"

"This baby's mine."

"I _know_ it is, I _told_ you it is." Theo said with a slight snarl.

"No, Theo." Aaron shook his head. "This baby's _mine_."

Something turned on inside Theo and she opened her mouth to say something. Instead, she bit her lip and nodded.

Aaron simply looked at her, his expression one of half excited, half horrified. Well, roughly three quarters horrified.

"We conceived this baby the weekend Alexander Hamilton was shot." Theo said. "The sex in the disabled bathroom a-at the hospital-oh I _knew_ that was a bad idea!" She put her hands on the back of her head.

"You did it willingly." Aaron pointed out.

"I didn't know it would lead to me growing a little person inside of me." Theo said. "I thought the pill would work."

"Theo, I'm sorry." Aaron said. "I love you _and_ I love the baby." He reached out and gently rubbed Theo's still flat stomach. "I'm going to do whatever I can to support you both."

"I know you will, Aaron." Theo said. "You're a good man."

"Theo..." Aaron cleared his throat. "Theodosia Bartow, will you marry me?"

"Aren't Hercules and Sally getting married?"

"And Peggy's having a baby too." Aaron said. "Will you marry me?"

Theo took a breath. "Of course I will, Aaron-"

Aaron cheered and wrapped his arms around her. "Oh, Theo!"

Theo pushed him away. "Aaron." She said, this time more firmly. "I'm not ready for marriage. I'll marry you, but I'll marry you when I'm ready."

"I'm confused. Is it a yes?"

"It's a 'someday'." Theo said.

"But is it a yes?"

"It's a no." Theo said sadly. "I'm sorry, Aaron. But I'm just not ready. And I don't want you marrying me just because I'm carrying your child."

"But-" Aaron said sadly.

"We'll still be together. I still love you, Aaron." Theo stood on her tiptoes to peck Aaron on the lips. "That's why I want our wedding to be beautiful and romantic. I don't want a shotgun wedding."

Aaron said nothing. He stood there looking disappointed.

"I'm sorry." Theo muttered.

* * *

That evening, John turned up at John Jay's Black Lives Matter meeting, slightly late.

"Sorry I'm late he said as he walked into the room. He took his seat.

"As I was just talking about, Marvel Comics have turned their most prominent Jewish character and Holocaust survivor, Magneto, into a Nazi."

John's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, what?!"

"I understand that this isn't a black issue." John Jay said. "But it is a civil liberties issue. Therefore, this is what we'll be discussing today, along with Donald Trump's _new_ Muslim ban."

* * *

 **A/N: Well, this is late. Sorry about that. But Happy International Women's Day!**

 **So Theo is pregnant. What will happen there? I can tell you right now, that she's having Theodosia Jr.**

 **Yeah, Morning Sickness can last up to and beyond 20 weeks. Some women just don't get it. Nobody in my family has ever got it. Weird right?**

 **I think everyone knows what a shotgun wedding is.**

 **And Marvel really did turn Magneto into a Nazi. Go figure. I thought turning Cap into a Nazi was the lowest they could sink, but nah. This is much more horrifying.**

 **Lastly, everyone should check out The-Confused-Fangirl-Yo's fanfiction on Wattpad, under the name Apheistas1. There's actually some good stuff OC centric stuff there, but not everything is actually Hamilton related. I'm gonna let you find the stories out for yourselves.**

 **Okay, one last thing while I hopefully still have your attention. Go and check out The Dreamer comic by Lora Innes! Right now, it's rather centred on Hercules Mulligan and his slave, Cato, but George Washington and Alexander Hamilton are also major characters!**


	3. Press Through the Mess

"How're you doing, Alex?" Eliza asked.

"Didn't realise how inaccessible everything is." Alex replied as he rolled himself along aside Eliza. "I mean, I knew my life changed, but I can't do even _half_ the things I used to."

"Yeah, well we need to get a present for Aaron." Eliza walked.

"Why?" Alex shrugged. "Because he got the damn lead in Pirates of Penzance? Or because he's gonna be a daddy?"

"He didn't get the lead." Eliza rolled her eyes. "He's the Pirate King."

Alex scoffed. "Pirate King is the lead!"

"No, Frederic's the lead." Eliza said. "And Mabel."

"Why are we even arguing about this?" Alex asked. "Fucks sake, at least he's not the Major General."

"Why? Would that be harder?" Eliza smirked.

" _I am the very model of a modern major general_

 _With information vegetable, animal and mineral_

 _I know the kings of England and can quote the fights historical_

 _From marathon to Waterloo in order categorical_

 _I'm very well acquainted too with matters mathematical_

 _I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical_

 _About binomial theorem, I am teeming with a lot o news_

 _With some very cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse_

 _I understand the integral and differential calculus_

 _I know the scientific names of beings animaculous_

 _In short in matters vegetable, animal and mineral_

 _I am the very model of a modern major general_

 _I know our mythic histories, King Arthurs and Sir Caradoc's_ -"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Alex, I have no idea of half of what you just said."

"I'm Major General Stanley." Alex announced.

"Hah. You're joking." Eliza chuckled. She looked at Alex, who looked deadly serious back at her. "Not joking?"

Alex shook his head. "I'm the Major General. Aaron's the Pirate King. You're going to have to go to that play now."

"But it's set in 1877!" Eliza protested. "They didn't have wheelchairs then!"

"So?" Alex shrugged and shook his head. "It's an _amateur_ production."

Eliza rushed in front of Alex's wheelchair and stood still. "You don't act!"

"Do you want me to run you over?"

"You wouldn't do that." Eliza said. "I have a broken arm."

"Really?" Alex said. "You're going to go _there_?"

"It's because of Lin-Manuel Miranda, isn't it?" Eliza asked.

"Well, so what if it is?" Alex asked.

"Why the hell did you suddenly just want to take up _acting_?" Eliza grabbed her hair. "You know what, don't answer." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, if Lin can do it, then so can I."

"You're not him" Eliza shouted. She sighed. "Sorry. I'm just a bit weirded out by this wanting to act thing. You want to be a politician."

"And before that, I wanted to be a doctor." Alex said. "Remember? I switched majors."

"Yeah, true." Eliza said. She scratched at the edge of her cast. "You've done a lot of things, Alex."

"Back in St Croix I was a journalist and essayist."

"You're still an essayist, Alex." Eliza said. "Don't think I don't know that Publius is you."

"Trump deserves it." Alex said casually and moved past Eliza.

Eliza started walking. "Not saying he doesn't."

Alex turned to face her and started rolling his chair in reverse. Eliza carried on walking forwards.

"It's not just me, you know." Alex said. "John Jay and James Madison are both Publius too. I asked Aaron and he said no. You'd think he wanted to make it up to me however he could after shooting me." Alex swivelled forwards facing once again. "You know, he still hasn't paid me back the money I lent him."

"What?"

"Before I got shot, Aaron asked around for a loan. But that's what he gets for spending forty bucks on a coconut. Anyway, I gave him a hundred dollars-a full Benjamin Franklin too." Alex explained. "Hasn't paid me back."

"Wow." Eliza frowned.

"I hope he used it for constructive purposes. Like getting textbooks or something." Alex said. The two carried on down the street in silence.

"Alex, just because you look like Lin-Manuel Miranda, doesn't mean you have to do what he does." Eliza said. "You're your own person."

"I know." Alex said. "I know."

* * *

John and Alex were in John's car, dancing and singing along to Taylor Swift's Shake It Off as John drove to the Schuyler's place. They were stuck in traffic, not that it seemed to bother either of them. It was a weekend, heavy traffic was to be expected.

" _That was Taylor Swift with Shake It Off. I hope that put you in a good mood_ -"

"You have no idea, radio guy." Alex chuckled.

"- _after the North Korea drama. Well, they're North Korea. What really did we expect? So just because we can't bear to break with tradition, dedicated to Kim-Jong Un, here's Enola Gay_."

"Wow. How depressing." John commented as the traffic slowly started moving again, only at a crawl, almost as soon as the seemingly upbeat sounding eighties pop song started playing.

"It's _supposed_ to be depressing." Alex said.

"Oh wow. I'm so stupid, I couldn't tell." John said sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

" _Enola Gay, you should've stayed at home yesterday_ -"

"Alex!" John snapped, turning the volume on the radio down.

"Sorry." Alex said. "It's catchy."

"It's not even a song about hypothetical nuclear destruction. It's Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which _actually_ happened."

"I _did_ learn history in Nevis, John, and in St Croix." Alex said. "And I'm studying history as part of my degree. Doesn't mean I can't like the song Enola Gay."

"You're not _supposed_ to like it." John argued.

"It's not _condoning_ the bombings, so yes, I _can_ like it."

"You're just being difficult."

" _You're_ the difficult one."

"I honestly thought you had better taste in music than this garbage."

"It's better than liking musicals." Alex said.

"Whoa, hey!" John glanced at Alex. "Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I have to like Broadway musicals."

"You once made a rap about how much you love musicals using only the titles of songs from musicals-with all the song titles from _different_ musicals!"

"Yeah, that-that is true." John said. "But it's a stereotype."

"That you fulfil, John."

"So _what_ if I fulfil it?" John said. The traffic outside was still crawling slowly.

"It's a stereotype. _I_ don't get stereotyped." Alex shrugged.

"Because there aren't any for people from Nevis or St Croix." John said through gritted teeth. He was getting annoyed with Alex not thinking before he talked.

"You're gay and like musicals."

"I mean, it's not like _all_ I like is musicals."

"That's true." Alex said. "I mean, you like Foo Fighters, don't you? A-and Jay-Z? And Beyoncé."

"You _know_ I love Queen Bey."

"Another gay stereotype." Alex argued. "Just tell me you don't like Lady GaGa and Madonna."

"You _know_ my taste in music, Alex, now shut up." John said. "Traffic's moving again."

"Well, you don't like _this_." Alex turned the radio up.

"Well that's because it's just that same 'duh duh duh duh' beat over and over. I can't like that." John said. "It's just so boring and repetitive."

Alex scoffed and folded his arms. "Like listening to people sing about their emotions is so interesting." He turned the radio up higher and folded his arms again. " _Enola Gay, it shouldn't ever have to end this way_ -"

John turned the radio down with a bit of a struggle, since he had to keep his eyes on the road. "Alex, seriously."

"John, seriously."

"This isn't going to end well and you know it."

"It's going to end with the end of the song."

"Stop listening to this maudlin shit." John said. "It's not going to do anything for your mental health."

"My mental health is fine." Alex snapped. "Can't say the same for Donald Trump."

"This _isn't_ about Trump." John said.

"They've dropped nuclear bombs twice before! They can do it again." Alex said. "Just let me have my fun before they do."

"Fine, Alex. Fine." John took his hand from the volume control.

" _And that was Enola Gay by Orchestral Movements in the Dark_ -"

"Fucking song's over now anyway." Alex said.

"- _gonna keep with the apocalypse theme now and play_ -" John turned the radio off.

"Fun's over."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey y'all!**  
 **I chose Pirates of Penzance because the performing arts department in my university is putting It on as their summer musical. Their winter musical was Sweeney Todd and the Musical Theatre Club is putting on a production of In the Heights, in which I am playing the role of Graffiti Pete. As a result, this story will be slow to update, but there's good news too! The story will also go into April!**  
 **So Aaron is the Pirate King and Alex is the (disabled) Major General Stanley. How will that work out?**  
 **Publius was the name Alexander Hamilton used for the Federalist Papers. John Jay and James Madison used it to, which is why they're all using it here.**  
 **Forty bucks on a coconut-a callback to Hamilween, the first story in this series.**  
 **Enola Gay by Orchestral Movements in the Dark is my local radio station's go-to song whenever North Korea does their thing. That's why it's on John and Alex's radio.**  
 **I timed their argument to the song Enola Gay, so if you listen to it and read their dialogue-and only their dialogue, accounting for pauses of course-then you'll be able to listen to the song from start to finish and imagine how that convo went down.**


	4. I'll be Waiting When You're Gone

"Hey, Alex, did you have fun with my dad?" Eliza asked.

"I suppose I did. It was a good visit." Alex shrugged. "You know John came and sketched out some stuff."

"I know. He told me." Eliza said.

"So uh... What's going on here?" Alex asked, gesturing at the evidently panicked students.

"Maybe you should check Twitter." Eliza suggested sheepishly.

Alex sighed and closed his eyes. "What's the bastard done _now_?"

"I'll let you find out for yourself." Eliza said, giving him her phone.

Alex took the phone and logged onto his Twitter, scrolling through until he found a tweet.

 ** _Donald J. Trump realDonaldTrump_**

 ** _North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un thinks he will get away with nuking South Korea! Sad._**

 ** _Donald J. Trump realDonaldTrump_**

 ** _There's one thing the world needs and it's for all countries to turn against North Korea! Their dictator Kim Jong Un is a bad man!_**

 ** _Donald J. Trump realDonaldTrump_**

 ** _This is a very unpresidented thing for Kim Jong Un to have done. Extreme vetting of all North Korean defectors! Sad!_**

 ** _Donald J. Trump realDonaldTrump_**

 ** _North Korea just launched a nuclear weapon. They must pay for their actions. As President, I will make sure they will not get away with it!_**

"That unhinged man has a lot of things to say, doesn't he?" Alex muttered. "Oh look, there's 'unpresidented' again. Oh and 'bad man' and 'sad'. No 'bigly' though."

Eliza snorted. "Bigly."

"What do you think he means by not letting North Korea get away with it?" Alex handed Eliza's phone over.

Eliza took her phone back and put it in her pocket. "Well, we'd better hope it doesn't mean what the news is saying it means."

"What's it matter-it's all fake anyway, right?" Alex said.

Eliza grimaced. "Well..."

"You know what I mean, Eliza. Donald Trump thinks any news organisation that thinks he's doing a bad job is fake."

"They're saying he's preparing for war."

"War?"

"As in the nuclear kind."

Alex's eyebrows shot up. "So because North Korea was being North Korea, Donald Trump wants to wipe them off the map?"

"This shouldn't surprise you, Alex."

"It doesn't." Alex said. "It horrifies me."

* * *

The next morning, Alex awoke and carried out his morning routine-changing his catheter, going to the bathroom, brushing his teeth. He went into the living room and to the kitchenette, where John was eating his food, perfecting his drawing.

"Hey." Alex greeted.

"They haven't dropped a nuke yet." John snorted.

"Threat's over." Alex said. He took a bowl for himself and put it on the table. "But with Trump, is it ever over?"

"Lol." John said.

"Lol?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "John, you've been texting too often."

"Yeah, you." John retorted.

"Very funny." Alex took the milk from the fridge.

"They're playing depressing music on the radio." John said as Alex made himself cereal.

"When you say 'depressing'..."

"I don't mean shit like Solsbury Hill." John said. "I mean shit like A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall."

"They're still bigging up that Trump's gonna cause a nuclear war, then." Alex commented.

"Alex, he may have already started it." John said.

Alex would be lying if he said that John's statement didn't give him the chills. Instead, he tried to brush it off.

And John walked over to the radio and turned it on.

" _-'s over! It's over!_ " Midge Ure cried out. Alex's heart skipped a beat. He knew it was just a song, but it was a frightening song.

" _-for the memory of a life gone by-_ "

"You can turn it off now, John." Alex said. "You've made your point."

"Have I though, Alex?" John asked. "I mean, nothing's happening now, but... Donald Trump, Alex. Something's coming, I can feel it."

"Like Tony in West Side Story?"

"This isn't time for joking!" John slammed his hands on the table. His expression though, was not one of anger, but one of fear.

Alex saw this and sighed. "I'm sorry, John." He said sincerely. "I shouldn't have... Shouldn't have joked."

John nodded and sat down, still sporting his fearful expression. It wasn't often that John Laurens was scared.

They sat in mutual silence with only the radio as background noise-The Police's Message in a Bottle-until Alex's phone pinged. He lifted his phone slightly to look at the message.

 **From:** **Nu Pengyou**

 **Heard teh news?**

Alex picked up his phone and typed out a response.

 **To:** **Nu Pengyou**

 **What news?**

He went back to eating his breakfast with John until his phone pinged almost immediately after.

 **From:** **Nu Pengyou**

 **Trump's just nuked NK**

Alex's jaw dropped and he struggled to process what had just been sent to him.

John noticed this. "Alex?" He asked. "What's wrong?"

Unable to say anything, Alex simply showed John the text.

"Holy crap." John said.

"I know."

"Turn the radio up."

"You're closer!" Alex argued.

John leaned over and turned the radio up.

" _-king news now, Donald Trump has ordered a nuclear strike on the secluded country of North Korea. We don't know yet whether the missile has struck the country yet or not-_ "

"Fuck." John shoot up. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." He kept repeating the word over and over again.

"John, calm down-"

"It's happened, Alex!" John grabbed his hair. "We're going to die! Can't you understand?"

"I understand, John, but remember the Life Support affirmation in Rent." Alex said, trying to sound as calm as possible. "There's only us, there's only this."

"Yeah." John nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"I'm going to get dressed and pack some stuff." Alex said. He turned to their shared bedroom.

John turned the radio off. "I don't want to know how much time I have left. _There's only us, there's only this_." He sang, shakily.

"I know." Alex began shoving clothes into his backpack-anything that would fit. John pulled out his backpack and did the same thing. Both of them were frantically packing any of their belongings that would fit in their bags.

Alex heard his phone ping again, so he went over to it.

 **From:** **Nu Pengyou**

 **The UN are having an emergency meeting in Geneva**

Alex began to furiously type a reply, not caring about typos and knowing that his time could be very nearly up.

 **To:** **Nu Pengyou**

 **I'm scared, Eliaz, im not gnna deny that, but ii dogt want to live teh rest o f my life in fear-awhoever long that bay eb. if we enver see each other agian, goodbye, best of wives and best of eomen.**

Not to his surprise, Alex got a reply almost instantly.

 **From:** **Nu Pengyou**

 **Goodbye to you too Alex**

John rushed into the living room carrying the backpacks. "I packed your toothbrush, Alex." He said.

"I don't know if I'm even going to live long enough to use it." Alex said.

"What do we do?"

"Whatever time we have left, we have to spend it with Eliza." Alex said. "And the others."

"I'm scared." John said. "Should I drive?"

Alex nodded, taking his backpack. "Yeah, drive."

* * *

John had dumped the backpacks and Alex's wheelchair in the trunk of his car as he drove on the nearby university campus. Traffic was high on the roads. To forget about the possible incoming apocalypse, John and Alex were listening to John's playlist on his phone. Show tunes were better than hearing what was going on. So when they got on the campus, they were shocked to see nobody around except security. Alex got the backpacks, while John got Alex's wheelchair as a security officer approached them.

"Are you two students here?" She asked.

"Yeah." John said. "I'm John Laurens and I study veterinary science and art. That's Alexander Hamilton and he studies political science." He took his backpack from Alex.

"Okay." She said. "I'm a security officer and I need you to follow me.

"Wait, what's going on? Why-" John began.

"We've been urged by Dean King to lead the students into fallout shelters-"

"Wait-fallout shelters?!" Alex blurted out.

"Yes, Dean King has had us preparing for a nuclear strike." She said. "Please follow me." She began walking.

John and Alex shared a look of worry and followed her. They followed her in silence as they went inside and down in a corridor. She opened a heavy lead door into a comfortable looking room, which had a couch, a few tables, cupboards and a door that looked like it led to another room. It looked almost like an ordinary living room, if you ignored the metal walls and door. Also in the room were the Eliza, Angelica, Maria, Dolley, James, Martha, Nathaniel, William, Aaron, Theo, Hercules, Sally and Thomas Jefferson as well as a radio that was playing Barry McGuire's Eve of Destruction.

"If there's going to be a nuclear strike, I'd rather Jefferson get out and die." John whispered to Alex.

"You heard that, Jefferson, out." Alex folded his arms and John let his backpack drop.

The door to the shelter was shut and made a loud noise. John and Alex turned to the noise.

"Looks like I can't." Jefferson smirked.

"Then shut up." Alex said.

John sat down on his backpack as the song ended.

" _That was Barry McGuire with Eve of Destruction. Something that we might actually be on_." The radio presenter chuckled awkwardly. He was clearly scared. " _I-uh... I-here's Lukas Graham's 7 Years_."

The new song started and Theo looked up from her phone. "I like this song."

"Do you think they're going to drop the bomb?" Dolley asked.

"That's a really depressing thing to think about." Martha said.

"Yeah? You think _that's_ depressing?" Nathaniel asked. "We're locked in a lead lined _fucking_ fallout shelter!"

"Cool your shit, Nathaniel." Theo hissed. "This is just a precautionary measure anyway. Just listen to the radio. It's not saying that any nuclear strike is imminent-it's playing 7 Years."

"Well, Theo _is_ right." Sally said.

"Damn straight I'm right." Theo folded her arms indignantly.

"We might not all die." Sally continued. "I mean, how bad can living in a post-nuclear world be? It might not be as bad as predicted. I mean, look at Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

"They still had high cancer rates and lots of burns victims." Dolley argued. "And look at the amount of cancer in Chernobyl. Don't forget, if we're nuked it's bye bye doctors."

"I meant that there was no nuclear winter." Sally said.

"Yeah, but now we have H-Bombs that are so powerful they can make miles long craters in the world and make fallout spread thousands of miles." James said. "The largest H-Bomb ever detonated had a potential yield of a _hundred_ megatons. They only detonated _fifty seven_ megatons, but all houses even thirty miles away from ground zero were destroyed and people could have had third degree burns from sixty two miles away and the heat was _definitely_ felt from a hundred and seventy miles away. The shockwave from the blast was so intense that windows were shattered at nearly six hundred miles away from ground zero and get this-the fireball was four miles wide and didn't even touch the ground because the shockwave was _so intense_. And the mushroom cloud _seven times_ the size of Everest at forty miles high. Windows broke in Norway and Finland and seismic sensors were tripped all around the world, even as the shockwaves made their third trip around the world. Despite the fact that it was detonated two and a half miles above the ground, it caused an earthquake of five point five on the Richter Scale."

"Jesus Christ." John exclaimed after a brief pause.

"If that thing hit DC..." James paused. "We would be able to see the mushroom cloud. We would probably see the flash and feel the heat. We would _definitely_ feel the shockwave."

"How do you _know_ this?" Sally asked.

"Google." James shrugged, showing his phone. "It's the Tsar Bomba."

"Nope, I was wrong. _That_ is the most depressing thing." Nathaniel corrected himself and sat down on the poorly carpeted floor. "Why are you even talking about nuclear bombs when one could be dropped on us? That's just ghoulish."

"Maybe, oh, I don't know, maybe because we're locked in a nuclear bomb shelter and the president is Donald Trump-an admitted sexual predator-who has already dropped a nuke on North Korea, prompting an emergency meeting by the UN." Alex said.

"But Donald Trump wouldn't be the one using nukes." Eliza pointed out. "And Vladimir Putin wouldn't nuke his buddy, would he?"

"North Korea haven't really been military allies to Russia since the dissolution of the USSR." Hercules said. "But they _do_ share a border."

"That wouldn't be enough for them to want to nuke Trump, would it?" Angelica asked. "I mean, aren't Russian people skeptic of North Korea?"

"I think they are." John said. "But at the same time, Russia wrote off North Korea's debts a couple years back, so relations aren't _exactly_ sour."

"I still think the Kremlin don't like that North Korea is testing nukes." Hercules said.

"Have been, you mean." Maria corrected. "Trump's probably laid waste to that country with nukes. As in... No more North Korea."

"In that case, Russia _might_ nuke us." Hercules shrugged, picking at his nails in the corner. "Especially if the fallout landed in populated Russian territory."

"Maybe China will nuke us." William suggested. "Their relations are a _lot_ stronger."

"But even China's had enough of North Korea's nuclear shit." Hercules said.

"Yeah, but still, since the end of the Korean War, they have worked together militarily." William pointed out.

"China it is then." John said, seemingly accepting of his fate.

"China it is." William repeated with a slight sigh.

" _We've got breaking news coming in that the emergency UN meeting in Geneva is underway_." The radio presenter said over the end of the song. " _It is expected that they will be discussing President Trump and presumably issuing sanctions_."

"See, sanctions." Theo shrugged. "It's not severe."

"Shh!" Alex put his finger to his mouth as Aaron went to turn the radio up.

" _-om Brady of the New England Patriots-_ "

"Fuck it, it's Tom Brady." Hercules waved his hand dismissively.

Aaron turned the radio down again.

"If a nuclear strike were imminent, do you _really_ think that they would be talking about the Patriots?" Theo asked.

"Normalcy." Nathaniel shrugged. "Trying to give the appearance of shit being normal, when we're all going to die."

"Or as REM put it, 'it's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine'." Maria said.

"That's a good song." Angelica added.

"One other thing that we wouldn't have if the world was destroyed by nuclear warfare." Dolley said. "Music."

"Hey, speaking of music, do you know this new song?" Eliza asked.

"It sounds like the chorus in that Jay-Z song like a decade ago." James said.

"And the prom scene song in Napoleon Dynamite." Maria said.

"I think it is." Angelica said. "Aaron, turn the radio up."

"You got it, boss." Aaron turned the radio up. There was a brief pause as everyone listened to the radio.

"Yeah, it definitely is." Angelica nodded. "The prom song, I mean."

"Whatever it is, it's depressing." Nathaniel rolled his eyes.

"Everything's 'depressing' to you, isn't it, Nathaniel?" Eliza asked.

"This situation is." Nathaniel said. "Everything about it."

"I can't really deny that." John agreed.

"I just want to get out of here." James said. "I'm creeped out. I can't believe that this is real. Like _r_ e _ally_ real. Not just a bad dream."

"Well, it might be a bad dream." Alex shrugged. "Jury's still out on _that_ one."

"Alex, you're not helping." Theo said. "James, it'll be fine. We'll be out of here by the end of the day. After all, you know all about George King and his raging paranoia."

"Here's hoping." Nathaniel said.

"We'll be fine." Theo said.

"I wouldn't speak with certainty." Angelica said. "Especially with such uncertainties in the world."

"Mostly, I'm trying to convince _myself_ that everything will be fine." Theo sat down next to Angelica.

The music stopped suddenly and everyone turned to the radio.

" _Breaking news now-and it's not the news that any of us had been hoping for_."

"Here we go." John said.

" _Major news outlets are reporting now that there is a nuclear missile inbound for Washington DC which has been launched by China in retaliation for President Trump's nuclear attack on North Korea_." The radio presenter sounded shaken.

Mutters of shock spread among the group.

" _This is officially a two minute warning. It's all over_."

An air raid siren sounded and the group huddled up.

Alex slid from his wheelchair down on the floor and hugged around John and Eliza.

Maria and Angelica clutched each other's hands and Maria rested her head on Angelica's shoulder.

Aaron held around Theo, who was gripping onto his t-shirt.

James and Jefferson were close to each other, holding hands.

Sally had her head buried in Hercules' shoulder.

On the other hand, Nathaniel opened his backpack and pulled out a large bottle of alcohol. "Might as well get wasted one last time." He opened the bottle as Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World began to play on the radio.

"Not Peggy." Eliza muttered. "Peggy's in Virginia. With Lafayette."

"If she dies, Eliza, she won't suffer." John said soothingly. "She'll go instantly."

"I don't want her to die at all." Eliza broke from the hug and snatched Nathaniel's beer.

"Yeah, now how am I gonna get wasted?" Nathaniel asked.

"I want to get wasted too!" Eliza said, taking a long gulp of the alcoholic beverage.

"So do I." Alex took the drink off Eliza.

Eventually, the drink was being passed around the shelter. When Jefferson was taking a drink, the radio cut out unexpectedly.

"What was that?" James asked.

"Radio probably ran out of battery." Dolley said. She took out her phone and turned it on. Only it wouldn't go on. "Huh. Strange."

Martha frowned. "What is?" She asked.

"My phone won't go on." Dolley replied.

This prompted everyone else to check their phones and William to check his laptop.

"Mine's not working either."

"Nor mine."

"I can't get mine to work."

"Annoying."

"What the hell's going on?"

"This is ridiculous."

John took his phone from his pocket slowly and pressed the home button. Then he pressed the on button. Nothing happened.

Jefferson stood up with the beer bottle in his hand as everyone chattered about their expensive paperweight phones. "The bomb's hit DC." He said, with tears in his eyes. "The EMP is why nothing's working." He explained, his voice audibly shaking, but he said what nobody else wanted to admit. "The blast has happened. Guys... We're in a nuclear war."

* * *

 **A/N:Hey guys! Sorry for the delay! I'm planning something for James Madison's birthday, but it might not be up until St Patrick's Day, which I'm also writing something for, but will be up by the end of the weekend. Damn Graffiti Pete messing with my schedule like this. Also, I can't help but notice that when I write for this AU, shit happens in real life too. Here's hoping this doesn't happen!**

 **Donald Trump's 'tweets' are pretty muchexactly what my lecturer wrote when he was impersonating Trump for a role play. Don't ask.**

 **Bigly is a word. It wasn't made up by Donald Trump. It means 'of great size'. Check your dictionary.**

 **Midge Ure was the singer of Ultravox. Their song Dancing With Tears in My Eyes was playing on Alex and John's radio.**

 **Something's Coming is one of the best songs in West Side Story. Fight me.**

 **Nu pengyou is 'girlfriend' in Mandarin Chinese. But with more accents over some of the letters that I can't write out on my computer because I can't actually figure out how.**

 **Message in a Bottle by The Police because that's what I was listening to when I was writing that part.**

 **Rent is one of the best musicals. Fight me.**

 **7 Years because I like that song.**

 **Also, like Enola Gay, their discussion lasts as long as the song does.**

 **Everything James said about the Tsar Bomba is 100% true. You can google it. I did.**

 **North Korean and Russian relations have indeed soured since the USSR broke up. And the Kremlin is distrustful of their use of nukes. So is China, but China would support North Korea militarily, just as America would support South Korea militarily. That's why China was the one to do the deed. However, China also don't like that North Korea is doing their nuke thing.**

 **The song that they discuss is Alphaville's Forever Young. It was used in a Jay Z song called Young Forever back in 2009, so not quite a decade ago. It was also in the prom scene in Napoleon Dynamite.**

 **The references to the 'bad dream' is because Alex originally saw this godawful future in a bad dream.**

 **I asked a friend how he'd react if he heard the two minute warning and he said that he'd get wasted, which is how Nathaniel having beer came about.**

 **Nuclear bombs emit an EMP. No electricity. No phones. That's how they'd know. And their smartphones would totally be paperweights.**

 **And you'd want to deny something like that to yourself. When you say something, it becomes real. That's why nobody wanted to admit it.**

 **Ah well... Sweet dreams!**


	5. This Isn't Happening

Alex woke up the next morning to find that John was making pancakes in the kitchen. They sat down at the table and ate together.

"i haz 2 find eliza yo." Alex said, a serious expression on his face. "bitch b leavin tg2 dc b4 i say gbye."

John nodded as he ate his pancake. "tell eliza dat john sez hi."

Alex ate his pancake and left the apartment, but no sooner had he done that than he was cornered by Theo and Aaron.

"boi, wot u b doin out ere?" Aaron asked. "dont u no jefferson b lookin 4 u?"

"jefferson no scare me yo." Alex replied cockily. "jefferson b a dick 2 evry1."

"dat true." Theo agreed. "dat true. at dawn yo i c him n da student store. he b buyin candy 4 james. an jefferson skipped da line."

Alex clapped his hands to his mouth in horror. "no! u no mean dat?!1!"

"i mean dat." Theo said.

"dat true." Aaron said insistently. "i woz der."

"i b on da lookout 4 jefferson den." Alex looked around cautiously, expecting Jefferson to be there.

"i c u l8r, Alex." Aaron said.

"c u l8r!"!11 Theo added cheerfully.

"ye, c u l8r." Alex said.

Alex carried on his journey to Eliza's apartment, when he ran into William Van Ness.

"oi u no jefferson b lookin 4 u rite?" William asked. "u no wot i here? i here dat jefferson sleeps wiv a teddy yo."

"lol!" Alex exclaimed. "how u no dis?" He asked curiously.

"i no evrytin." William replied, with a cocky smile.

"u do no evrytin." Alex agreed. "but u no no were im goin now, do u?"

"u gna 2 c eliza. ur gf."

"ooo u do no evrytin!" Alex blurted out. "ur gr8, dude."

"i no. i no." William bowed, accepting of the praise being doled out to him. "but i gtg now. soz. cu l8r."

"kk." Alex waved goodbye to his friend and carried on.

He was unfortunately interrupted again by Dolley and Martha gossiping about Jefferson and James.

"so den i sed 'thomas u need 2-" Martha was interrupted by a nudge from Dolley. "o hai alex."

"yo martha." Alex greeted. "were u goin 2 wiv dolley?"

"woz goin 2 shop." Dolley said.

"y?" Alex asked.

"y not?" Martha countered. "it a free country. kinda."

"o btw jefferson want u." Dolley added.

The two friends skipped off and left Alex alone. But not for long because Hercules passed through with Sally.

"alex boiiii!1" Hercules greeted Alex with a hug. "how u been? u k?"

"im ok." Alex replied. "u plannin da wedding?"

"we woz plannin da wedding." Sally nodded. "i woz just goin 2 get a dress."

"hercules woz going 2?" Alex asked skeptically. He knew the tradition of the groom not seeing the bride's dress until the wedding.

"no herc woz goin 2 get a tux." Sally replied.

"i woz." Hercules said with a nod. "u wna cum wiv 2?"

"no. cant. Jefferson b after me." Alex looked down to the ground sheepishly.

"dat a gd reason 2 cum wiv us." Hercules said.

"na, im gna stick around. wait 4 Jefferson an hit him n da nads."

"gd plan." Sally said.

"well, we c u around."

"gd luck gettin a dress an a tux!" Alex shouted after his friends.

He turned and bumped into Nathaniel.

"hai Alex. wot r u doin?" Nathaniel asked.

"nothin." Alex responded with a casual shrug. "wbu?"

"nothin 2." Nathaniel said. "just goin 2 get a coffee. u wna cum 2?"

"na." Alex said. "im gna c eliza."

"noice." Nathaniel smiled. "u gonna get sum action?"

"na just visitin." Alex said. "b4 she go 2 dc."

"gd. gd. btw i wna b called nate now. iykwim." Nathaniel said.

"kk." Alex said and carried on towards Eliza's dorm.

"c u round." Nathaniel said.

"u 2." Alex said.

About five minutes later, Alex saw Professor George Washington coming from his car.

"hai alex." Washington greeted politely. "how r u doing 2day?"

"im doing gd prof washington." Alex said with a nod. "r u ok?"

"im ok." Washington said as he locked up his car. "ur looking gd. u dont seem stressed yo."

"im gna c eliza." Alex replied. "she b goin 2 dc."

"gd 4 her." Washington said with a nod. "der b lots 2 do in dc. dat da city, not da comic."

"ye, da city." Alex said.

"ill c u in my class." Washington said and walked off.

Alex eventually got to Eliza's dorm building and outside was standing Peggy and Lafayette. Peggy now looked visibly pregnant.

"u look preggers." Alex said.

"ye. i no." Peggy said.

"no prob." Lafayette rubbed her belly. "dey b my bbys."

"dey may not b ur bbys." Alex said. "peggy did it wiv her cuz."

Lafayette's eyes widened. "omg peggy noooooo!1!"

"nooooooooooooo!1" Peggy wailed. "alex! ur a dick!"

Alex went inside Eliza's dorm building and in the halls, saw Jefferson and James. Jefferson had his hands in his pockets.

"look james, it b alex hamilton." Jefferson said.

"ye u been lookin 4 him dis mornin yo." James said.

"wot u want, jeffercreep?" Alex asked. He folded his arms.

Jefferson took his hand out his pocket. "u left ur phone at mine." He held up Alex's phone.

"o." Alex blinked. "ty." He took his phone from Jefferson.

"np." James said. "thomas wanted 2 look in it i woz like 'no' an we didnt."

"cool. ty james." Alex said. He made his way to the elevator and called it. Out of the elevator came Angelica and Maria.

"alex!" Maria squealed. "ur here!"

"ye im here y wud i no b here?" Alex shrugged.

"we woz just wonderin cuz ur l8." Angelica said. "we didnt no if ud show."

"i saw peeps." Alex explained. "dey b talkin."

"we try 2 txt u." Maria said.

"jefferjeff had my phone. cud no txt u soz." Alex said sheepishly.

"y jefferson have ur phone?" Angelica asked. "u no like him."

"i no." Alex said. "but i went 2 party."

"kk." Angelica said, satisfied with Alex's answer. "eliza b up in our room."

"kk." Alex said. "i b goin der now."

Alex went in the elevator and on Eliza's floor, got out. He looked for Eliza's room and when he found it, opened the door to find Eliza.

"hai." Alex greeted happily.

"alex?" Eliza questioned. "but ur already here?'

"no. im here now." Alex frowned in confusion.

Out from the bathroom came none other than Lin-Manuel Miranda.

"omg it da ith dude!1" Alex exclaimed. "Wot u doin here?"

"omg i thought he woz u!" Eliza shouted "who is dis?"

"it da ith dude!" Alex shouted. "lin manuel miranda!"

"i dont no ith!" Eliza said.

"i did mercy 2." Lin said casually. "o an moana. an bring it on yo. an-"

"ye we no care bout ur musicals." Alex shook his head.

"rood." Lin folded his arms.

"ur rood." Eliza said. "u sed u were alex."

"no u never ask me if i woz alex. it ur fault." Lin pointed out.

"get out." Eliza said.

"im goin im goin." Lin put his hands up in mock surrender as he left the dorm.

"u ok?" Eliza asked.

"ye." Alex nodded. "i wante b4 u left 4 dc."

"o dat." Eliza chuckled. "ye. dat next week."

"oops." Alex chuckled.

"but ur l8 4 da power rangers movie we woz gna c 2gether." Eliza said.

"den lets go." Alex declared.

* * *

 **April Fools!**


	6. Lights Up

"What the hell is he doing here?" James asked. He was pointing at Jefferson, who had entered Eliza and Angelica's squashed dorm.

"I wanted you to hear me out." Jefferson said.

"We're through, Thomas." James said. "I made that clear when I left."

"You did, but-"

"Listen to what James wants and leave." Angelica said.

"It's my birthday, Thomas." James said. "I just want a bit of time away from you. Couldn't you grant me just that one little thing?"

"Say what you want, James, but hear me out first."

"Thomas..."

"We need each other, James." Thomas said. "We're Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the dynamic duo."

"We were boyfriends." James corrected.

"But before that, we were best friends." Thomas said. "I don't care if we don't have a relationship any more. I just don't want us to be on bad terms."

"You pushed me!"

"That was in January!"

"How can I trust you again, Thomas?!" James shouted, far louder than anyone could think of the little man. "I can't." He said quietly.

"James-"

"I'm twenty today, Thomas." James said. "Starting a new decade in my life. And I'm not sure you can be a part of that."

"But-"

"Even as a friend."

Eliza patted James on the shoulder comfortingly.

"Thomas _is_ trying." Maria said. "And you _are_ homeless."

"What are you saying?" James asked.

"Move back in with Thomas." Maria suggested. "I'll move in with you both."

"That's probably not a good idea." Eliza said.

Everyone else stared on in confusion.

"Do you _really_ want to live with Jefferson?" Alex asked.

"No, but do _you_ really want to see James homeless?"

"You have an apartment." Alex argued.

"No, I have a dorm that I'm getting thrown out of."

"Okay." James agreed. "Yeah. That sounds good, Maria."

"Having someone else there if things go wrong is always a good idea." Maria said. "What do you think, Jefferson?"

"Fine." He grunted. "Both y'all move in then."

* * *

The next morning, Maria, who'd been sleeping on the couch, was awakened by Beyonce's Single Ladies, her ring tone. She reached offer and grabbed her phone from the coffee table.

"Hello?" She said groggily.

"Maria!" John said down the phone. He sounded overly cheerful and that automatically put Maria on guard.

"What's going on?" Maria asked, sitting herself up.

"Alex is drunk."

"What?" She rubbed her eyes.

"I said Alex is drunk." John repeated.

"No, I heard what you said, I just find it unbelievable." She looked at the time on James' clock. "It's not even eight in the morning yet."

"Well it's St Patrick's Day, so believe it."

"Alex is going to be so hungover tomorrow." Maria shook her head. "Don't allow him to drink anything else. Just... I don't know. Give him some coffee or something. How drunk is he?"

"He can't stand."

"He's a _paraplegic_." Maria pointed out. That was something that should be obvious.

"I know." John said. "Let me rephrase that-he can't even sit up properly. He's just slouching forward on our couch. If he _could_ stand... Well, he wouldn't be able to with the level of drunk he is. If he were Aaron Burr, he'd be having his stomach pumped."

"That bad, huh?" Maria asked. "Don't let him sleep then. Keep him up, but keep him away from the alcohol."

"Will do." John said and hung up.

Maria sighed as she put her phone back down on the coffee table.

She did not realise that James Madison had walked into the kitchenette.

"Morning, Maria." He greeted.

"Hey, James." She greeted in return.

"Do you know what today is?" James asked as he made himself a coffee.

"Saint Paddy's Day?" Maria stood up and stretched.

"Iron Fist Day." James replied.

"I'm not watching that." Maria said.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not into superheroes and Iron Fist has been getting terrible reviews. It's like Batman vs Superman but worse."

"That movie was-"

"Disjointed." Maria finished. "It didn't seem to know what was happening. And for Bats to become instant friends with Supes because both their moms are called Martha is a ridiculous reason to be friends. I refuse to accept it as canon."

"You don't like superheroes, but you've seen Batman vs Superman?" James set his coffee sup down on the kitchen counter and folded his arms

"I thought it was pitiful and shit. But at the same time it wasn't as pitiful as Suicide Squad." Maria shrugged. "How the fuck that movie won an Oscar for painting Margo Robbie White and Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't is amazing. You just know that Deadpool 2 will win an Oscar for painting Zazie Beetz white, making whoever plays Cable look ugly and for Deadpool's face. If not, then it makes Suicide Squad winning an Oscar seem really stupid, especially when Star Trek literally went where no hair and makeup artist has gone before by pioneering new makeup techniques."

"I don't think they'll paint Zazie Beetz white." James said.

"Why not?" Maria asked.

"Racism." James shrugged. "You want to paint a black girl white, then you cast a white girl and paint _her_ white."

"Yeah, but Domino's like... _Literally_ white. Not _ethnically_ white. She's white in the same way paper or a wedding dress is."

"I thought you didn't like superheroes."

"Just because I don't _like_ them, doesn't mean I don't _know_ them." Maria countered. "And I'm still salty about Suicide Squad winning the Oscar. How are we allowed to live in a world where Oscar winning Lin-Manuel Miranda _doesn't_ exist, but Oscar winning Suicide Squad _does_?"

"Sign of the upcoming apocalypse?" James suggested.

"Don't push it, Madison." Maria said.

* * *

The next morning, Alex did indeed wake up hungover, even though he hadn't been drinking since the previous morning. John had sat with him all of Saint Patrick's Day and watched Iron Fist.

"Alex, don't forget you have physical therapy today."

"What time?" Alex's head throbbed.

"One." John replied. "So you'd best get ready for it."

"Noooo." Alex groaned.

At the shared apartment, Hercules and Sally were wedding planning and Lafayette was gone again, leaving Peggy sitting on her own and visibly pregnant.

"I'm going out." Peggy said, standing up. "Don't wait up."

"You're pregnant." Hercules said. "You're not going out alone."

"I'm not Rapunzel, there's no need to lock me in a tower and force me to grow my magic healing hair out."

"I knew we shouldn't have let her watch Tangled: Before Ever After." Sally muttered to Hercules, who nodded in agreement.

"But you're pregnant and Laf would never forgive us if we let you go out alone and maybe hurt their babies." Hercules said.

"I am _not_ chattel!" Peggy snapped. "I do not _belong_ to Lafayette! I am my own person!"

"Herc, maybe we should-" Sally began.

"Nobody's saying you belong to Laf, but Peggy, you can't deny that you are pregnant. You're even starting to show now." Hercules said. "And there are certain things that pregnant people can't do."

"Going out for a walk isn't one of them." Peggy snarled. She picked up her keys and opened the door. "Goodbye." She slammed the door very loudly.

"That went well." Sally commented sarcastically.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! This is me playing catchup!**

 **I am very salty about Oscar winning Suicide Squad. Still think it should have gone to Star Trek.**

 **For those who don't know, Zazie Beetz-who is black-had been chosen to play a literally white character. I think that's very weird and I would like to see how that plays out.**

 **Batman vs Superman was horrible, let's not mince words here. So was Iron Fist. Finn Jones shouldn't have been chosen to play Danny.**


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